Reductive

Quick meaning: Reductive is an adjective meaning (Scots law, now rare) Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory.

Meaning

(Scots law, now rare) Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory.

More Meanings

1. Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something.
2. (chemistry, metallurgy, biology, economics) That reduces a substance etc. to a more simple or basic form.
3. (now rare, historical) That can be derived from, or referred back to, something else.
4. (now frequently derogatory) That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist.

Example Sentences

On the relative reductive powers of different classes of American coals, as demonstrated by the experiments with oxide of lead.

But then beside the primary and direct sense of the text, the ancients commonly supposed that there was a reductive or anagogical meaning, in which it might be taken.

It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.

Synonyms for reductive

Depending on context, synonyms include subtractive.

Antonyms for reductive

Common opposites include oxidative.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include subtractive, reduction, reductant, reductionist, restriction, restrictive.

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